Are You Overbooked?

In this fourth installment of the Saga of the Two Giant Brothers, we return to the conversation between you and Liar Giant, who had just depressed you further by explaining just how small and insignificant you are.

If you missed the first three parts, you can take a look back to catch up:

The story goes on

Remembering the last time you tried to return an object to Liar, you resignedly set the glass globe down in the grass just off the path. “Apparently I have no choice but to sit here listening to you insult me and giving me things that you claim are mine. What’s next?”

The giant raises one eyebrow. “Are you sure you don’t want to take a break? You’re a pretty puny little thing.”

“I’m not exactly having the time of my life,” you reply, cradling your forehead in your hand, “but I want to get this over with so I can talk to your brother about that diamond.”

“As you wish,” he answers as he reaches in his bag for a third time. Stooped over and blindly digging around, he finds what he is seeking and holds it out to you. It is immediately recognizable as an aged metal hand mirror. Once ornate, it now is pitted and worn.

You take the mirror and hold it up to your face. The glass is cracked and the silver backing has separated with age, rendering the piece almost unusable. “Well, it’s the thought that counts,” you say with a smirk. “Now you’re going to tell me that I’m ugly, old, and useless, I suppose?”

“Not exactly,” Liar answers. “Let me tell you about that mirror. It used to sit on the vanity table of a beautiful young woman. She took care of it as well as she took care of herself, keeping it clean and bright, and polishing the surface from time to time. As the young woman got older, though, her life became busier. Soon she became so overly busy that she no longer had time to return to her house every day, so she started to bring her essentials along with her, including the mirror. Such a fine object was never meant to be treated that way, and the damage you see is the result of the stresses of travel, temperature and humidity changes, and a needlessly rough life on the road.”

“I suppose there’s a lesson in there for me somewhere. Am I the woman or the mirror?”

“You’re both, and you’ve become so extremely busy with your overbooked life that you no longer have time to stop and consider what’s so important that it’s got you scurrying all over the place, nor the damage that you are causing to yourself and others.”

Martha

In Luke 10:38-42 we read about the story of Jesus’ visit to Martha’s home. While Mary, Martha’s sister was sitting at the feet of Jesus listening to Him teach, Martha was running all over the place trying to prepare the day’s meal. She asked Jesus to tell Mary to get up and help her, but Jesus told Martha that what Mary was doing was the only thing worth worrying about.

If we are honest with ourselves, we are most often more like Martha than Mary in our modern lifestyles. We live in a society known for immediate gratification and an insanely face pace. Because we cram as much as possible in the twenty-four hours we get each day, we never feel that we have enough time to accomplish everything that we have to do. Among working, getting kids to school, the soccer game, dance practice, paying bills, shopping, taking the dog to the vet, etc, we occasionally manage to squeeze a moment in with Jesus. Even church activities have become a source of busy-ness for its own sake in a lot of cases.

Slow down

In Jeremiah 2:25, the prophet Jeremiah gave a message from the Lord. In it He describes His people thirsting for other gods, and removing their shoes before them (a sign of worship.) Their excuse is that they love these gods and will pursue them.

We have made gods out of our busy schedules if we place priority on these busy things rather than on God.

Have you ever tried to pray to God while you’re driving home from work, gulping down a McSandwich, and worrying that you won’t get Johnny to Little League on time? It doesn’t work very well, does it?

The truth is that we carry this kind of stress around because we insist on maintaining the illusion of control, and we’re so stubborn that we’d rather let it bury us than to confess our need for peace and stillness with God.

Stress is unavoidable, but it is also largely controllable. I don’t think we should all drop out of society and sit in our homes meditating all day, and there is nothing inherently evil in most of the things that keep us so busy. What is evil is that we often tend to push our most important event, that is, spending time with God, off of our schedule first when we feel overbooked. Right after He’s gone, we do away with other important relationships. Just as God is always with us, even at the baseball field, so is little Johnny. But do we really ever talk to him any more? You know, the kind of talking that can’t happen when other things are going on? The “sit down with me. How are things really going? I love you” conversations?

I propose three steps to reducing the type of stress due to overbooking:

Schedule God first. Not just in your mind, but on your schedule. This should at least include both praying and Bible reading.
Schedule real relationship time with loved ones second.
Schedule busy activities third.